Economy Shrank At Record-Breaking 33% Last Quarter

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 32.9% annual rate in the April-June quarter – by far the worst quarterly plunge ever – when the viral outbreak shut down businesses, throwing tens of millions out of work and sending unemployment surging to 14.7%, the government said Thursday. The Commerce Department’s estimate of the second-quarter decline in the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, marked the sharpest such drop on records dating to 1947. The previous worst quarterly contraction, a 10% drop, occurred in 1958 during the Eisenhower administration.